


Age Differentials

by tornandfrayed



Series: An Education [1]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Donna x college, F/M, Santos Administration, donna x career
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26096572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornandfrayed/pseuds/tornandfrayed
Summary: "My credits. From University of Wisconsin. They’re expiring.”
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Series: An Education [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925722
Comments: 10
Kudos: 93





	Age Differentials

Donna breezed into the apartment, placing her keys in the small bowl by the door and slipping off her shoes as she shuffled through their mail. Quickly bypassing the normal junk, she spotted an envelope addressed with her name and bearing a familiar insignia. She delicately and skillfully opened the parcel and began reading as she walked into the kitchen. “My credits are expiring.”

“Hm.” Josh nodded without looking up from the memo he was reading at the dining table. “Wait, what?”

“My credits. They’re expiring.”

“Your credits?”

“From University of Wisconsin. They’re expiring next year.”

“Oh. Well, do you want them to expire?”

“I don’t know yet.” She wandered back into their bedroom, taking the letter with her.

***

A week later they were having the rare lunch in Josh’s office, when she broke the comfortable silence. “I mean it would be crazy, right? I work 12-hour days, 6 days a week.”

“Right,” nodded Josh as he took another bite of his sandwich.

“And I couldn’t sit in class with a bunch of kids in their twenties. I mean I’m so old.” Donna said more to herself than to Josh. Josh shot her a skeptical look, and Donna, seemingly just realizing he was also in the room with her, rushed to correct her previous statement. “I mean compared to them. Compared to them I am so old.”

Four weeks later, in the midst of the Santos Administration’s successful first Easter Egg Roll— _Join the First Family for a day of inclusive fun, open to all Americans no matter your race, your religion, or the composition of your family!_ —Donna looked out on the raucous event with pride. “I am Chief of Staff to the First Lady of the United States.”

“Yes, you are.” Agreed Josh, absentmindedly, as he tapped out an email on his Blackberry.

“I am a powerful and successful woman.”

“Very powerful and successful.” Josh hit send and looked up from his phone.

Donna inspected one of the commemorative wooden eggs hidden throughout the lawn and traced its delicate etchings. “And I’ve done all of it without a college degree. What could it offer me at this point?” She pondered.

Josh watched as the President and First Lady read aloud to the joyfully shrieking children, and felt even his cynical heart constrict slightly, “I have no idea.”

***

Still, two and half weeks after that, Donna and Josh sat quietly at their breakfast table as Josh read the sports section— _This is the Mets’ year, Donna_ —and Donna did the Sunday crossword— _It’s an icon of American culture, Josh._ With a delicate flick of her pen, Donna filled in her final square, breaking the easy silence, “I’m smart.”

“Yes.” Josh patted her hand lightly where it rested atop the table.

“I’m serious, Josh. I’m like really smart.” She held the finished crossword in his face and waved it for emphasis.

“I know you are.” He agreed as he turned the page.

“I could study anything.”

“I know you could.”

***

Three days after that, Donna sat in her palatial office and glanced around at its four walls. “It might be nice,” she wondered.

Josh, who had wandered over from the West Wing to avoid whatever the latest argument was between Amy and Lou, agreed without moving from the couch he was lounged on and kept his eyes closed. “It might.”

“I could keep it in my office.”

Truthfully, he had been nearly half asleep when he agreed, so his eyes shot open and he hoped he hadn’t just agreed to getting a puppy or something— “Keep what?”

“My degree. I guess it might be nice to hang in my office.”

“Ah.” He sighed, closing his eyes again. “Very professional.”

***

The next night, Josh trudged into the apartment at half-past four in the morning—why things had to get hot in Kazakhstan on the exact day Congress was going for spring recess he surely was being punished. He crept into bed and let sleep claim him in a matter of seconds. He felt like he had only just closed his eyes when a light in the room roused him. He groaned and woke with a start fearing that he had missed his alarm. “Is it morning already? I feel like I just closed my eyes.”

Donna was sat up in bed nervously biting one of her fingernails. “What? No,” she said with a start, only briefly glancing at Josh next to her in bed.

After it became clear she wasn’t going to elaborate further, Josh spoke, “Then can I ask why you turned the light on?”

“ _Josh_ ,” Donna said forcefully, finally turning her gaze towards him.

 _“Donna._ ”

She took a breath, and with a sense of importance said, “I think I want to go back to school.”

Josh blinked at her, before adjusting his pillow and burrowing back into bed, “Ok great. I want to go back to bed.”

“Josh, I’m serious.”

“I know, and I’m tired.” He pulled the covers back up and turned over. After a moment when the light had still not been turned off, Josh felt her eyes still baring into him. He resisted the urge for a moment, but realizing this conversation was going to be a thing and wanting to return to sleep as soon as possible, he cracked an eye open. “What?” Donna kept her face neutral and continued to look at Josh with those wide blue eyes, “Ahkay. Donna, of course you want to go back to school. You’ve been talking about it for weeks.”

“Well it’s a big decision.” She said, waving her hands for emphasis.

“Donna.” Josh sat up and grabbed her hands, “You want to go back to school. That’s great. Now stop talking about it and do it.”

Donna let go of his hands to cross them over her chest, and resumed her nervous habit of biting at her nails, “But what about my job?”

“What about it?”

“I couldn’t do both,” she said, throwing a harsh glance at Josh.

“Yes, you could.” Josh returned her harsh gaze with an incredulous look of his own.

“Go to school full-time and work more than full-time?” Donna put her head in her hands.

“ _Donna_.” Josh rubbed the heels of his palms over his eyes, hoping to shake the tiredness that was threatening to consume him, “What time do you go into work?”

Donna blinked, “What are you talking about? I go in with you. 7 A.M. every day.”

“What time does the First Lady come in?”

“Nine.” She said slowly, unsure of where Josh was leading her, “After Peter and Miranda have left for school.”

“And what time does she leave?”

“3.”

“And you leave at?”

“5.”

“And does the First Lady travel a lot?”

She glared at him, “You know she doesn’t.”

“Does she schedule a lot of events during the week?”

Finally beginning to realize the conclusion she was being led to, Donna was running through her mental calendar, “No, we try to schedule her for a max of three days a week so she can spend time with the kids.”

“So,” Josh paused for emphasis “in between meetings with the First Lady from 9 to 3, and maybe the occasional event which, knowing you has been meticulously planned and scheduled months in advance, do you think you might have time to take a few classes at night?”

Despite this she was still unsure, “Maybe?” she answered shyly. When she looked up to see Josh’s blank stare, she continued, “Josh. I’m Chief of Staff. I can’t be away from the office every night. I have twenty people working for me.”

“Exactly! So, use them, delegate.”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from you.”

“ _Donna_.” He said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them slightly.

“ _Josh_.” She stared up at him. Realizing he wasn’t to be deterred, she admitted, “Fine, yes, I might have time.”

“Good.” Josh smiled, turning off the light and dragging Donna down with him to lay her head on his chest. “Glad that is settled.” He tightened his hold across her shoulders and kept her head in place with his hand, “Go to sleep.”

After a moment, he felt her smile against his skin, whispering “It’ll be a lot of late nights.”

“That’s fine. We’d be on the same schedule then.”

“It’d be a lot of late nights.” She continued, “In the library. With college boys.”

“I thought you were too old?” Josh hummed good-naturedly, tracing small circles across her back.

“Yah, but I could be a cougar.” She said lightly, as she nuzzled comfortably into his should, “Guys are into that,” she paused, “well some guys, present company excluded.”

Josh paused his ministrations, “Thanks for that. So that’s what does it for you then, massive age differentials?”

“Josh.” Donna looked up at him with her trademark toothy grin, “I’m going back to college.”

“Yes, you are.” He returned her smile with one of his own.

“I’m going to be a _co-ed_.”

Josh groaned, “As if I didn’t feel like enough of a creep already.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement, especially re: the bar exam. I really appreciate you all! 
> 
> This may have been inspired by my degree arriving in the mail this week. Now only to have it framed so I can have it hanging in my office.
> 
> If you're interested, come hang out with me on [tumblr](https://torn--and--frayed.tumblr.com/)


End file.
